Camerata Homes builds uniquely, one dream at a time
Camerata Homes is Denver, Colorado’s premier custom home builder and remodeler. Owner, Jan Knibbe, shares a more detailed overview of the business, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. “We build custom homes and provide our clients with a complete service from land acquisition and designing the property in-house, to engineering, permitting and construction. Basically, we handle everything right up until the keys are handed over.
“Where many small custom home builders focus on one small area, or a particular style, and tend to make different versions of the same home, we build houses across a variety of styles and never build the same house twice. We take pride in the fact that we utilize different design languages according to our clients’ choices and preferences. We do very traditional homes, Craftsman style, Tuscan homes, Prairie style, all the way through to ultra-modern properties. If you can name it, we’ve done it.” 
Jan then sheds some light on the process Camerata Homes goes through with its clients: “The earlier we can get involved with a client, the better satisfaction clients experience. Contributing to the home site selection can be incredibly useful, for example, because owners may not have the experience to recognize all of the challenges that a site may present. Choices at the beginning of the process will have a significant effect down the line. If a client wants a walk-out basement, for instance, this requires quite a substantial elevation change of the contours of the lot. This can be particularly challenging in flat urban lots. In more open, suburban or rural sites, the topography can be more forgiving, but you might then experience some challenges with utilities.
“Once we have helped the client find the ideal site that can accommodate all of their requirements, we then move to designing the home. We strive to understand the client’s needs and desires, taking their style and character into account. We then arrange the spaces within that particular home to capture the views they may appreciate, whether that be the morning sunrise or the sunset, and incorporate it all into the equation to produce the best product that takes advantage of all the natural assets of the location and meets the client’s needs.”
Having been founded in 2005, the company has had to overcome several significant periods of economic challenge. Jan explains how the business has navigated the difficult moments that many building companies succumbed to: “After initially having some success in the high-end custom home market, the 2007 crash happened, and by 2008 the housing market had basically gone to zero. As more and more building companies were going under, we managed to weather the storm. We ended up taking on smaller projects where people we had worked with previously wanted us to finish a basement, for example. This kept all of our trades and vendors going.
“Then we started acquiring decrepit properties downtown. Rather than the more typical fix and flip model, which involved essentially putting a new floor in, painting, and decorating, we took to fully gutting the house. We would fully dismantle the homes and repurpose the spaces inside. We did dozens of these projects; it was a really exciting challenge to keep the character of these old buildings while transforming the interior for a modern living style. My background in engineering came in handy with any structural challenges that we encountered.
“As the market started expanding, we moved back towards doing custom homes but retained this service. It was a very useful evolution of the company. It was also a great learning experience; it demonstrated the need for flexibility in these markets. Being small allows us to be agile and adapt to changing conditions.”
Performing many processes that are often sub-contracted, such as excavations and utilities, provides a significant advantage. Jan outlines the benefits: “We have a project in a highly desirable area called Sloan Lake, built around an old lake which was planned as a resort that never materialized 100 years ago. Working with a triple lot, there was plenty of space to play with, and our in-house designer Garry did an amazing job designing the house. The challenge though, was the very high groundwater. The lot is in a low area, which probably used to be a drainage area into the lake. Lots of the homes in the area have pumps working away constantly. We ruled out a basement on the property because if a pump failed it would result in a flooded basement, which is not something you would ever want.
“Having our own excavating crews meant we could be more investigative when performing the initial ground work. This enabled us to discover old storm drains that weren’t even on the city records, which stretch back 100 years. These pipes were drawing water towards the site; discovering them allowed us to dig them out and plug them. This eliminated a lot of the extra water coming onto the site. Working so closely with our soil engineers and geotechnical engineers enabled us to connect the sites with sound engineering and a properly prepared subgrade in a less expensive way, bringing more value to the client. We could then build the fantastic two-and-a-half story house, which includes a rooftop deck to fully appreciate the surrounding views.”
Concluding, Jan looks to the future, outlining the company’s ambitions for the coming years: “We’re going to continue to work and expand our presence in the market. As we’ve matured, we’ve developed a lot of strong skills with a team that brings a wealth of experience that is not typical in a small building company. The experience of the three main individuals that are driving the design and construction within the company is beyond compare. Between the three of us, we’ve got over 100 years of construction experience: 40 years in my own background of construction, engineering, and managing all aspects of the industry. The other two individuals have 35 years of experience in architectural design, project management, procurement of products, and layout designs. This means we are uniquely well positioned to take advantage of the opportunities that emerge in the near future.”